Is This SOL Mexican Cocina’s Moment in the Sun?

 Sol Mexican Cocina

1910 Main Street

Irvine, CA 92614

Sol Mexican Cocina will always hold a special place in my heart. In the early days of this blog, I wrote about this restaurant quite often. It turns out it was only four times, but that still seems like a lot to me now, as I always wanted this restaurant review blog to be as diverse as possible. There were two reasons for the overabundance of Sol Cocina posts. We were invited to their media events, of which they had one every few months or so. The second reason was that we genuinely enjoyed the food here. This is where we'd come for special occasions, and we even spent a memorable Valentine's Day lunch here about ten years ago. 

This was also the first place where I really enjoyed what people called elevated Mexican food. When Sol Cocina opened in Newport Beach in 2011, the only restaurants that fit this description were Las Brisas and Javier's, which I have never really enjoyed. Sol Cocina was brought to fruition when Deborah Schneider, an award-winning writer of Mexican cookbooks and executive chef, and her business partners decided to bring her Baja-inspired recipes to the public.

Sol Cocina's expansion was measured, but it progressed over the years. They operate five locations: their initial Newport Beach spot, Playa Vista, Scottsdale, Irvine, and Denver. An outpost at the Forum Shops in Las Vegas shuttered last year. Sol Cocina spawned a more casual Mexican restaurant, Solita Tacos and Margaritas, which has two locations, Huntington Beach and Valencia.   

In 2019, Xperience Restaurant Group acquired both of these restaurant concepts. The group also operates El Torito, Chevy's, Las Brisas, Acapulco, and others. This was our first visit to Sol Cocina since it was sold to the new restaurant group, and it's always a crap shoot whether it's going to be as good or slide downward in food and service quality. I was intrigued to find out which way it was going to go. 

My aunt and uncle have been including Katie and me in their family celebrations, and for my aunt's birthday, they decided to have it at Sol Cocina in Irvine. This location is situated alongside Main Street in the Irvine Concourse, also home to Goldfinch, The Trough, their soon-to-open sister restaurant, Monaco Italian Kitchen, and Izakaya Osen. Quite the ensemble of restaurants for an area of town mainly dotted with hotels and multi-story office buildings. 

We arrived at Sol Cocina at half past 6 on a Sunday evening. The restaurant was sparsely populated, and our server met us immediately as we were seated. The dining room was sleek and modern. We weren't sitting near it, but the dining room's centerpiece is a glass-enclosed kitchen, which would be interesting to sit near if you are into watching the inner workings of a restaurant kitchen. 

It's been a long while since we've eaten at Sol, but since the ownership change, the menu has not changed much, which is nice to see. Four of the ten starters are different versions of guacamole, and the rest of the menu is broken up into sections of salads, specialty plates, tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Entrees go for anywhere between $20 and $42 for a wagyu steak. We made our selections, and this is what came out for us.  

No sizzling skillet for the Sol Fajitas ($30) here. This serving of flap meat featured some really nice grill marks on the steak, and came with some fajita vegetables, an excellent cilantro chimichurri, pico de gallo, and sliced avocado. I was sitting at the far end of the table from Casey, who ordered this, but I did not hear any complaints from him from where I was sitting. I liked the change of pace of forgoing the pomp and circumstance of having the fajitas steaming hot and sizzling for all the restaurant to hear. Very understated. 

The taco plates come with three tacos and two sides of your choice. They offer carnitas, grilled chicken, or this Carne Asada Taco Plate ($21). The corn tortillas contain pico, onions, avocado sauce, and cilantro. These looked fine from where I sat, but I would have asked for extra salsa. The black beans and red rice were an easy choice over the other two sides, spicy slaw and quinoa salad.

This would have been my pick if someone had not snatched it up before me. This Short Ribs 'Barbacoa' ($32) resembled a chile colorado. The short ribs were tender, and the red sauce had a nice, almost smoky flavor but did not detract from the meat. This came with the rice and beans as the tacos, but also had three pieces of sweet potato on the plate, which I thought was a little odd. For $32, I thought they could have included a little more short rib. 

I always favor pork in Mexican restaurants, and that was true again on this visit to Sol when I selected the Pork Carnitas ($23). This was a very solid version of this dish. The pork had a nice mix of fatty and lean pieces; there were some crispy ends, and adding the chicharon, which was not listed on the menu description, was a pleasant surprise. The rice and black beans were good, but I prefer the bean dip you get at the start of your meal with the chips and salsa. The bean dip brought this pork to a whole other level. I'll ask for extra the next time I'm here.  

Katie selected the Chicken 'Desmadres' ($23) for her meal this evening. I promise there is chicken under all that arugula, red onion, tomatoes, peppers, and avocado salad. It was an interesting presentation because a citrus drizzle acted like a light dressing, topping this. I would have liked this salad served on the side, so getting to the chicken would have been easier. Katie liked this well enough but thought it was also an odd dish. The chicken was tender, but it needed a flavor boost. 

I've never really understood why quesadillas need to be as expensive as they are. This is not a knock on Sol Cocina, because every restaurant, whether it's elevated Mexican, a modest taqueria, or even Del Taco, which offers its chicken quesadilla at $6, has a massive upcharge for this delicious snack. Half a dollar for the tortilla, a dollar for the cheese, and two dollars, conservatively, for the chicken, for a grand total of $3.50 for something that gets upcharged 400 percent at most sit-down restaurants. This Grilled Chicken Quesadilla ($19), I'm sure, was better than most, and it did come with a drizzle of salsas, tomatoes, and onions on top, and two sides. So, it's a relative bargain compared to most restaurants' quesadillas. Sorry, I rambled here, but I needed to get it off my chest.  

I'm glad Sol Mexican Cocina has not fallen off the rails since they changed ownership. Some of the novelty of their food has dimmed a bit because upscale Mexican food has become more common, but I'd place Sol right in the middle of all the elevated Mexican restaurants I've visited. They are better than Las Brisas and Javier's, but not as good as Calo, Red O, or Sol Agave. The service was nice and cordial, and their prices, except for the quesadilla, were not outrageous. A worthy restaurant for a family gathering or a date night. 

Out of five soccer balls (because the Los Angeles Sol was a professional women's soccer team that won the regular season championship in their only season, with five being best and zero being worst, Sol Mexican Cocina gets 3 soccer balls. 

For more information about Sol Mexican Cocina, head to their website by clicking here: https://solcocina.com/